how an ultrasecretive Chicago industrial mogul has quietly given $1.6 billion to the architect of the right-wing takeover of the courts, the largest known political advocacy donation in U.S. history. In a stunning exposé, ProPublica and The Lever have revealed how Barre Seid, a 90-year-old conservative industrialist from Chicago, has given his fortune to a nonprofit run by Leonard Leo, the co-chair of the Federalist Society. Leo has played a key role in helping Republicans reshape the federal judiciary. He’s been described as Donald Trump’s “Supreme Court whisperer” for his role in pushing for the nomination of Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
So, what we’ve reported is on how Barre Seid, a pretty unknown businessman from Chicago, donated his — really, his entire business empire to a nonprofit run by Leonard Leo, and which then sold the company, which was called Tripp Lite, for $1.6 billion. You know, we believe it’s the biggest-ever donation to a politically oriented dark money group in U.S. history. And the way this transaction was designed, it shielded Seid from paying roughly, we believe, up to $400 million, which then became a public subsidy, effectively, for this nonprofit, this conservative advocacy group run by Leonard Leo, the man who, as Trump’s judicial adviser, successfully flipped the Supreme Court and helped build a conservative supermajority there that just recently overturned federal protections for abortion rights.
— source democracynow.org | Aug 25, 2022